Austere
by kandylicous
Summary: Little by little, she's slowly teaching him how to live again. By far the hardest thing he has ever had to learn was how to be human...He's thankful she's here with him on this journey. SasuSaku. Slight AU.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. **

**Austere**

**Summary:** Little by little, she's slowly teaching him how to live again. By far the hardest thing he has ever had to learn was how to be human...He's thankful she's here with him on this journey._  
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**You have been warned this fan fiction contains profanity, violence and lime/lemons. **_**Reader discretion is advised.**_

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_"You've got to find yourself first. Everything else'll follow."  
― Charles de Lint, __ Dreams Underfoot _

___xx_

___"I'm to proud for love."_

* * *

_Home was where the heart lays._

Sasuke wondered if he had a _heart_, not just the anatomical organ that served to pump blood but rather a heart that could _beatbeatbeat _for someone else. He ignored the small voice in his head that screamed— _no because he was selfish and lost on a path of vengeance._ It was foreign; pondering upon the loss of his humanity and _where he went wrong _in his crooked life— one that he desperately tried to set straight. He supposed years of grief and tragedy and the waves of loneliness did that to a person. It was a hard pill to swallow, the concept of being entirely alone in every facet of life.

The Uchiha knew deep down inside he was wrong—_he would never admit it __out loud_. He had a makeshift family that would have gone to Hell and back for him a million times over but he did nothing but _shun shun shun _them. He was the one who carefully guarded his being with barriers of titanium. He was the one who erected walls of ice around his heart.

He was the one who that pushed away the little glimpse of sunshine and happiness..The nin shook his head lightly, as if he could stop the trail of dark thoughts.

_Could you blame him?_

Could you?

For being the way he was because the one person he loved and placed on a pedestal went and slaughtered _every fucking thing_ that mattered to him. In his volatile mind, Sasuke wanted, hell deserved to be bitter and angry with the world, for killing his family.. _on fucking orders_.

He was cold; slowly, slowly melting and world weary at 22, he felt beyond his years. He knew he had gone through life experiences that fortunately rarely anyone else had to. The inky eyed male never figured that learning how to live life again, would be such a difficult journey. By far the hardest thing to learn was how to be human again.. to some extent it frightened him; knowing that it was _so easy _for him to slaughter someone in cold blood than to be able to smile at the little things in life.

As time moved forward, emptiness consumed him all the more. His sensei had been right.. revenge hadn't been fulfilling. Here he was a young man—lost because his life had no direction besides _down down down. _

What was his purpose in life—to end up twenty two and confused about who he was? He used to be filled to the brim with hatred but now.. he was just a boy that felt nothing but hollowness. His appearance however portrayed his telltale life as a shinobi; lean defined muscle that rippled with his every movement, a chiselled jaw, void onyx eyes that countless women swooned over and a presence that _literally commanded _everyone's attention.

Internally he was not a man, he was a boy because this world suddenly seemed so different and he didn't know _anything_.

Sasuke uneasily shifted on the branch he was sitting on, his back braced against the trunk of the tree. Sometimes he wished his life could be average.. sometimes he wished he was just Sasuke and not _Sasuke Uchiha_ because his cursed surname was feared and even for a moment Sasuke did not want people to cower in fear before him.

Especially his _"precious people"_

When he returned home at the age of 19, it had been silent and in the midst of the night. There were no dramatics, no waterworks— just a warm smile; that Sasuke swore was contagious and a loud shout of "Teme's back."

She had smiled at him and laughed when Naruto clapped him on the back— Sasuke had visibly winced, the blonds Rasengan had _nearly_ wiped him clean, to say he was alive was an accomplishment.

Over time he learned she was the top medical ninja in the village from Naruto's incessant babbling and from firsthand experience. She _was_ the one who had saved him from the brink of death on the night his best friend dragged his bloodied and sorely beaten self home. Sasuke idly remembered the sensation of her cooling chakra and the ghosts of her fingertips running over his hardened body through lidded eyes. He had watched her work; stitching his torn skin back together, closing the gaping hole in his back with pure astonishment.

Sasuke noted the specks of sweat that glistened her body. He didn't know whether it was because he was sedated or in excruciating pain but he thought she was beautiful. Exotic beautiful, the type that made you look _twice_. From underneath her scrubs, he mentally traced the outline of her curvy body and tried to memorize the subtle dips and curves of her frame before his world went black.

She had saved him and he was thankful.

After that night he observed she pointedly avoided any run ins with him, for the first few months. She turned down Naruto's offers for ramen, whenever he was around and during his probation she hardly visited him. It had taken a full year before she had begin to open herself up to him again. He eagerly held onto whatever she was willing to offer of herself. Till date, it amazed him... he was an Uchiha; they never chased anyone and here he was desperately clinging onto whatever a woman that was_ literally half his height_ could offer. Over time, the jade eyed beauty had slowly started to take up Naruto's invites for ramen; strategically placing herself between the two original boys of Team Seven. She showed up to team training sessions and on more than one occasion punched the daylights out of him.

He wondered what he had done wrong that warranted her cold shoulder initially but mentally slapped himself when the voice in his head screamed _".. you tried to kill her..twice.." _Sasuke scowled and fingered a kunai in his pouch.. _she had tried to murder him as well,_ he tried to convince himself; hoping the empty feeling in his chest and guilt would ease _just a bit._ No matter, how he tried to justify, his warped mind told him "_you tried to kill her out of judgement clouded with hatred" _

The lost boy knew she wanted to end his life herself because she loved him. She wanted to end his suffering and save him from himself. It was melodramatic, he mused.

Ninja senses kicking into high gear, a snap of a twig alerted him to the massive chakra signature in the vicinity.

"Oi Sasuke."

He looked down and noted that his lazy teacher was leaning against a sturdy oak tree, one eye warily watching him. "I'm surprised, you aren't training." The copy nin lazily drawled."Usually you're training until you're a corpse. Naruto says he drags your raggedy ass over to our favorite medic for a private healing every time. Playing doctor, I presume."Kakashi smirked, when noticed his former student slightly tense at the mention of his only female student.

Sasuke settled for throwing a glare at his mentor, the elder mans light chuckle only further irritating him. "Hn." He teleported in a puff of smoke down next to the silver haired nin. "What do you want?" His tone was brisk, straight to the point; ignoring the crap his sensei had to spew.

"Naruto's insisting on a team dinner. I am inclined to invite you Sasuke."

"Ah. Waste of time." He snorted. "We have dinners together all the time." It wasn't uncommon for them to drop into each others apartments and raid the other's fridge or pantry. He remembered on more than one occasion Naruto being clobbered into the ground for the lack of vegetables in his diet. Sakura had made it her personal mission to ensure the health of her team. It was annoying, to say the least, drinking various herbal teas and soups that tasted completely and utterly like _ass. _

"You don't look particularly busy. Well anyways, the dinners going to be at Sakura's tonight. Drop by if you can." With a wave of his hand, Sasuke watched Kakashi disappear in a puff of smoke and an audible poof, that he had grown accustomed to hearing as a child.

Might as well train so he could go see his _"favorite"_ medic later in the night. At lest when he showed up at her apartment, he would have _a reason_. He was a man of reason and logic. Sasuke didn't waste time; eating dinner with a bunch of obnoxious assholes was a waste of time. On the other hand getting healed by the best medic he had ever come across _technically_ was not time wasted.

* * *

Naruto _hands down_ probably had one of the most filthiest apartments in the village. Empty ramen cups littered the floor, a foul odor hung in the air and his laundry.. well he didn't know the last time he had done it. The blond proclaimed that this was only because he was out _"saving the village" _and_ Real hero's don't clean. My girls clean for me, right Sakura-chan!" _Needless to say, he had been punched across the village and into the Hokage Mountain for his d_egrading, sexist comments_ by a fuming pink haired medic.

He swore there was a dent shaped like him in the mountain by now.

_Aw good times,_ he reminisced with a goofy smile on his face. Naruto was sure that the villagers had grown accustomed to him being _manhandled, throttled and possibly even tortured _by their Head Medic— to the point that it was just an every day occurrence by now.

Sakura's apartment was practically his home and was delighted every time he got the chance to crash at her place. His belongings were scattered around her house; he had to _force_ the grin off his face at the thought. He had most of his meals at her place when he wasn't at Ichiraku and usually crashed overnight in her spare bedroom when he came home from a long tiring mission.

It was an unsaid ritual. Each member of Team Seven would always drop by Sakura's apartment for a check-up and a meal. It was the first place anyone went to before reporting to the Hokage after a mission. Sakura glad to have the company, had always made it apparent to _her boys_ that her home was theirs just as much as hers. Along with the close knit bond the team had, the rumor mill was always churning.

One day Sakura was allegedly sleeping with Naruto or Sai and then the next day seducing her senei or blowing the Uchiha. It never ended. Naruto shook his head. There was no truth to anything that the villagers said; it was something all kunochi had to deal with at one point in their lives. The ninja world being male dominated, most women were objectified. Villagers assumed females survived in the ninja world because of _special skills._ Naruto frowned at the thought, all the kunoichi he knew could kick his ass to the sun and back.

One rumor in specific had made him almost lose control and rip a man's tongue out with his bare hands. Some speculated that the Uchiha had returned because his female teammate had persuaded him with sex; after all he made it apparent since a Genin that he did want to restore his clan.

_FLASHBACK._

_"I bet Haruno's real good with that mouth of hers. Eh." The middle aged man smirked at Sasuke and Naruto, as the duo walked towards Ichiraku. "I would take any punishment to have an ass like that sit on top of me and rock me into oblivion." He crooned, oblivious to the glares both men were shooting his way. He let out a puff and brought his lit cigarette to his chapped lips._

_"Oh you two, can't figure out which one of you gets her for the night?" He drawled out slowly, elongating the last few words with a raised eyebrow. "Don't worry, that other teammate of yours can take her off your hands tonight."_

_Naruto snapped and lunged for the man. _

_Sasuke's eyes bleed crimson, sending the man visions of his very, very, very painful death. _

_END FLASHBACK._

It was injustice, it was wrong. Naruto had witnessed almost all of the females from the village that had become ninja's, break down at one point in their careers because of the cutting, sharp words thrown around. It was especially painful watching his close female friends breakdown. He had always carried a deep rooted respect for women but now it was a firm belief of his. Women were equal in every way—one of the many reasons why he never retaliated when Sakura punched the daylights out of him.

He snapped out of his thoughts, when his female teammate popped her head out from behind the swinging doors to her small kitchen. _God, how he hated that stupid door._ Her pink hair piled messily on top of her head, she smiled. "Oi, Naruto do you mind if I ask a little favor from you?"

Naruto literally _jumped_ out of his seat _and bounced_ over to the female. "What what? Anything for you Sakura-chan!" He grinned down brightly at her. Sakura was the shortest out of the rookie 9 and most ninja. All of the shinobi towered over her and often she found herself the center of many jokes.

"Can't reach the counter top, midget?" He teased and watched her emerald green eyes light up in fury. Sakura glared and placed her hands on her hips. She hissed cattily. "Keep talking shit, baka. _Remember_ I am the cook, here." Sakura smirked at him and motioned to the spatula in her hand. "Wouldn't want anything _unpleasant_ to happen to your meal, now would we?"

"You're such a bully, Sakura-chan." He frowned and poked her in the middle of her forehead. She scowled and swatted the tan finger away from the diamond—a diamond that proudly showed to the world, _that she wasn't fucking useless._

"Says the bully."

"What did you want from me? I was watching a rather interesting special on tv—_never mind_." He stopped mid sentence, when he noted the glare the short woman was throwing his way. "Kami-sama, I swear I wasn't watching any Icha Icha. I'm not a pervy sage!" Naruto waved his hands in front of his face. "I swear, woman!"

"Whatever."

"You sound like Teme when you do that." Naruto grinned, hands behind his head, the amusement dancing in his ocean blue eyes. He painted the perfect picture of summer. "Spending a little extra one on one time with the grouch, aren't you Sakura-chan?"

Sakura ignored the comment and the shit eating grin on her best friend's face and walked back to the counter to resume chopping her vegetables. Naruto followed behind not before yelping when the stupid swinging door hit him in the face. The medic sighed, with a roll of her eyes, she motioned for the blond to sit on the floor so she could heal his broken nose.

"I hab dat door." He drawled, watching the green chakra flowing from her hands.

"I know, you hate the door baka. You do this at least once a month. Why can't you ever be careful."

Naruto half heartedly listened to her chiding, as he watched her eyes flicker into deep concentration. Silence quickly filled the apartment as she made sure her friends face had no signs the injury had ever happened.

"I need you to go to Ino's and pick up a bottle of wine." She finally breathed out, her hands still on the tanned shinobi's face. "She's at the shop. I would go myself but I've got to cook."

She watched her best friend raise an eyebrow. Sakura shrugged her shoulders. "I figured the team could all wind down and relax a bit." Her chakra stopped flowing to the tips of her fingers. "There! Now don't be an idiot and break it again." She removed her hands off his face and resumed chopping her vegetables.

"Thanks midget!"

"Are you really just signing your own death warrant.." Sakura growled, the knife in her hand reflected the sunlight streaming in.

"Well would you look at the time, gotta fly to Ino-chan's. Deuces!" He struck her his signature thumbs up pose before jumping out her window.

_Freaking ninja's._

_Why couldn't they use the damn door?_

* * *

It was to no one's surprise when brisk knocking on Sakura's front door interrupted the chatter filling the cozy apartment. Sakura trotted to the door slowly, fixing her black cotton shorts so they properly covered her round bottom. With a roll of her eyes, she opened the door and motioned for the war torn Uchiha to come inside. She moved out of the way and started at the back of her teammate as he planted himself firmly on her couch.

Sasuke pointedly ignored the lecherous grin on his best friends face and the amused all knowing smirk on his sensei's face.

"I can't even _imagine_ how you managed to do that Sasuke." Sakura chided from the door, gesturing to the dislocated shoulder and torn bicep.

"Training." He replied coolly, noting the shit eating grin on Naruto's face possibly get bigger.

"Sense the tone, Sasuke." Sakura hissed. "You need to stop pushing yourself so hard."

"Hn."

Sakura stood in front of the Uchiha looking him dead on in his onyx eyes. "I need to remove your shirt." He nodded slowly never breaking eye contact with the short medic. Idly he counted all of the different specks of emerald and amber in her too large eyes. He had never noticed just how much detail Kami-sama had put into making her. Her infamous strawberry mane had faint strands of blond and red and omitted a scent he thought was _absolutely fucking delicious_.

Sasuke stopped his observation, mentally screaming that he was checking out the world's most annoying woman. He was delirious, that's it. It was just the blood loss that was making him all loopy.

He watched her cut his shirt off with a kunai in one swift movement before setting to work. Determination set into her eyes, green chakra laden hands began closing the gash on his abdomen and his bicep.

"How did you even get this?" Sakura questioned, eyes roaming over a wound from a sword.

"Hyuga and I spared."

She nodded her head, satisfied with his response. Years ago, he wouldn't have even graced her with an answer.

"Sasuke teme, just trains so hard because he wants Sakura-chan to rip his shirt off and run her tongue all over his hard - _OUCH!_" Naruto shouted, his hands furiously rubbing his head. "What did you do that for Sai-teme!?"

"Ugly needs to concentrate. Quite frankly, you're giving everyone a headache." Sai bluntly quipped in. "Thank me dickless, I saved you from your inevitable death and besides we all know why Traitor trains so much. He just needs an excuse to take his shirt off." Sai flashed his fake smile and took a bite out of the rice ball in his hands, completely ignoring the death glare the Uchiha threw in his direction.

Naruto snorted. "Yeah like that ugly Sound uniform. I bet he had his custom made to show his chest off. Man whore."

Kakashi let out an amused chuckle. "Now now boys, we all know the only reason Sasuke goes to Sakura after training is because he wants to _play Doctor_." Naruto smirked deviously agreeing with the older man's theory.

"So Sasuke teme really does want Sakura-chan to lick every-"

"I will kill you all and feed your bodies to wild animals, if you continue that sentence Dobe."

"Wait I do not understand. Aren't they playing Doctor already? To my knowledge Ugly already is an accomplished Doctor and Traitor is her patient. So that would mean at this current moment.. they are _already playing_." Sai asked curiously, feeling a little uncomfortable as his blond haired teammate gaped at him like a fish.

"Sai.. playing Doctor is actually a form of fore-" Naruto grinned from ear to ear stopping mid sentence when his ex sensei thrust the infamous, coveted orange Icha Icha novel under Sai's nose.

"Appreciate fine literature, young one."

"Could one of you hold down Sasuke's arm? I need to set his shoulder back in place. It's going to hurt and I don't want him flailing his arms." Sakura questioned the men lounging lazily in her living room. She turned around, hands on her hips. "Naruto?"

"Yeah yeah yeah. I'll help Teme." He got off the plush couch and held down his best friends free arm. Sakura climbed onto the Uchiha's lap, channeling chakra to her thighs, she locked his legs in place safely making sure he wouldn't spasm and throw her off his body when she set his shoulder back in it's socket.

She stared into beautiful onyx eyes. "This is going to hurt."

"Nothing I haven't experience before." His reply fast and harsh. Sasuke felt the heat in his loins. Unbeknownst, Sakura sitting on his lap _which was purely for medical reasons_, sent a pang of desire coursing through his body. He wouldn't mind her rocking him to oblivion. He was a hot blooded male and she was an attractive female, he reasoned with himself ignoring the fact that all she had on was a deep blue V neck that gave him a great view of her cleavage and short black cotton shorts that hardly contained her _ass_ets.

Those shorts barely qualified as clothing, he mused.

_sfx crack_

The sickening crack of his shoulder being forced into it's socket broke the trail of fantasies in his dark twisted mind. He held back a growl at the shooting pain running up and down his arm.

"There you go. Now don't go tear yourself up again." Sakura smiled beautifully, entangling herself from his lap.

Sasuke had to bite back a groan that threatened to escape. If she was going to sit on his lap in those tiny shorts every time, hell he didn't mind breaking every bone in his body. Shock settled in; he was surrounded by perverts and quickly becoming one himself. Where were these sexual thoughts about the world's most annoying woman coming from? Had she placed him in some genjustu? He shook his head lightly, no it couldn't be a genjutsu. His Sharingan would have noticed right away.

It was definitely the blood loss then, he concluded. Sasuke stood up and stretched his arms out, testing the feel of his shoulder and healed body. The muscles in his arms and abdomen rippled and he ignored Naruto's shout of "showoff!"

"Did you hear me Sasuke?" Sakura's voice piped in. He watched her walk out of the living room, his inky eyes glued onto her firm bottom for a brief second.

"Ah."

One second to long. His best friend had jumped ouf of his seat and started dancing circles around the Uchiha.

"In Sasukenese, that meant Ah yes I will continue to tear my body up so you're sexy self can nurse me back to health. I also mean to say I like your ass. I want to smack it and do the unmentionables with you." Naruto grinned boyishly and dodged the fist coming towards his face. "I SPEAK THE TRUTH!" He proclaimed loudly jumping out of the way when the enraged Uchiha sent a round house kick to his back.

Sakura screeched when she saw Sasuke rapidly making the hand signs for his signature katon goukakyuu jutsu. The Uchiha stopped midst the ram hand sign and turned his head to the fuming medic. Out out of the corner of his eye, he watched the blond shrink in fear of the petite woman.

"SASUKE, NARUTO. I will rip your spinal cords out and shove them down your throats if you don't stop trashing my apartment. Sakura marched over to the boys and sent a chakra laden fist right into the blond's gut.

"YOU SICK TWISTED PERVERTED SAGE." She stomped over to the other male and smacked the back of his head. The enraged medic grabbed the raven haired male by the collars, so they were at eye level.

"YOU ALMOST BURNED DOWN MY APARTMENT, UCHIHA. EXPLAIN YOURSELF."

"Actually I can offer an explanation-" Naruto shrugged sheepishly, hiding behind his ex-sensei."He was just trying to get it hot in here, so we can take off all our clothes."

Naruto was promptly dragged outside and punched into the Hokage mountain.

* * *

A cool breeze filtered into the small apartment, it was a refreshing treat on a hot and humid summer night. Naruto blinked his blue eyes quizzically, stumbling the entire way to the living room. "Why's it so cold.. in .. here." His speech slurred, his cheeks flushed.

"The windows open... silly." Sakura hiccuped mid sentence. "You opened it, Naru-chan." She giggled at the nickname, she had momentarily created for the blond.

"Remember?"

"Oh yeaaaaaaaaahhhhh!" He proclaimed and laughed boisterously. "Sakura-chan meet Megumi-chan." He thrusted a cactus plant into her arms. Sakura blinked her too large eyes up at the taller male before pouting. "Megumi-chan, is just to beautiful... Sachi-chan is just ugly." She pointed to a wilting plant in her own hands. Her emerald green eyes glassed over. "Why isn't Sachi beautiful?!"

From the corner of the living room, Sasuke rolled his eyes at the sight of Naruto comforting an emotional Sakura. Over time, he had grown immune to his team's drunk antics. When heavily under the influence of alchol, Naruto was even more loud and obnoxious— if that was even possible, to everyones misfortune it freaking was. The two would engage in some ridiculous antics and Sasuke would be left dragging them home because pretty girls were vulnerable when drunk. He just dragged Naruto along so it wouldn't look suspicious leaving with a girl.

However the best drunk in the village was definitely not Sakura. She was notorious on the infamous list of the worst drunks in Konoha—_Lee, Naruto, Ino, Kiba.._ It was often said that Sakura had inherited the Hokage's intolerance of alcohol. It didn't take much for the woman to be out of her senses and in the same loony bin as Naruto. Sakura when sober was a voice of profound logic, to see her reduced to a state in which she _willingly_ participated in Naruto's half concocted schemes and general fuckery was like having your cake and eating it to.

Sasuke watched the blond wrap his arms around Sakura. Her pink head buried into the his chest. Sasuke heard the sobs of _"Sachi's so misfortunate for being so ugly." _

_Morons. It_ was a damn plant. Hell, it wasn't even a plant it was a freaking weed, Naruto had plucked from the streets. Why was she so worked up for? Sasuke ignored the sudden wave of something that felt close to relief, as the medic released Naruto from their embrace.

Ignoring the duo, he took a large swig of his sake. The wine from Ino had been long gone, at first it was sipped during dinner and before anyone knew it, Naruto had pulled a hidden stash of sake out from a closet that he proclaimed was for "emergency use" Sasuke didn't even know what kind of freaking emergency required sake but oh well, more for alcohol for him.

"Hehe.. look at Teme..." Naruto swayed over to the Uchiha and threw an arm lazily around his shoulder. "Drink up man!" Promptly, a bottle was shoved under his nose and tipped back. Some of the liquid trailed down and underneath the V neck he had changed into. Out of his peripheral vision, Sasuke noted Sakura slowly lick her lips, her fiery eyes locked on him.

He noted they flashed with a raw emotion before it quickly receded. He had seen that look on many woman's faces...

_Lust._

The mental image of her sitting on his lap earlier from the day, set another pang of desire to course within his body.

_Damn her shorts._

His hands itched to run his fingers all over her silky smooth skin, get her underneath him and make use of her sassy mouth. His eyes stayed locked on hers, as he knocked back the sake Naruto kept sending his way.

He felt the heat and heaviness that accompanied being completely wasted. His movements were slow and his mind was racing a mile a minute. Sasuke faired better than Naruto drunk, though his movements were slow, his sense of balance was intact. He watched Naruto stumble over to Sai—who had been engrossed in reading the infamous orange book—and topple onto the red plush couch.

"Sai's fucking reading porn!"Naruto laughed loudly and clapped Sai on the back. Sai uncomfortable with the stares he was getting, awkwardly coughed and chuckled. Even when flat out drunk Sai was still socially awkward.

"I..hmmm.. wanna seee... what's in... the book..." Sakura slurred, snatching the coveted book out of the pale artist's hands. "Sai.. that doesn't look... pleasurable..." She scowled and flipped through the pages. "This one.. does..." She waved the book around in the air, as if she had found the path to Nirvana.

Sasuke nearly groaned out loud when Sakura started flailing her arms in front of him, her chest bouncing with her movements. A book was thrust into his face and before he could register what had happened Sakura was pressing herself into his arm. "Doesn't that look like... it feels good Sasuke?"

Fuck yeah, it looked good. In that moment, he would have done anything to have her on all fours.

"Sakura-chan's a little pervert." Naruto giggled loudly. Sakura pouted. "Am not!" She left the book in the Uchiha's arms and bounced over to Naruto—presumably to bicker over who was the bigger pervert.

Sasuke looked down at the little book in arms with a curious gaze. Cracking it open, Sasuke spared the quarrelling morons a glance and then back down.

_Meh might as well kill some time. _

* * *

At around midnight, Naruto had fallen asleep in the spare guest room. Sai had quietly excused himself and Kakashi had left before the drinking even started. Sasuke sat adjacent from Sakura on her red couch and watched the woman lean back into her seat. Her neck elongated, exposing perfect ivory skin that Sasuke had been itching to leave a mark on.

She sighed and turned her head so she was facing him. "So..."

He raised an eyebrow and sunk into the couch, grabbing the remote off the coffee table and flicking the tv on. He didn't even know why he was still at her apartment, he didn't know why he was still up, when he could have been sleeping.

Sasuke ignored the nagging voice, that said he was here because Naruto was. Sasuke had just as _much fucking right_ as the blond did to stay the night at her place as well.

"Go back to that channel."

He grunted and flipped the channel onto a game show.

"Do you want anything to drink?"

"Just water." His eyes never left the television but he listend to the soft sound of her footsteps, the clinking of glass and her hushed swearing—_the cabinet was probably to high—_he had to fight off a smirk at the thought. Moments later, her footsteps alerted him to her presence.

"Here, you go." She stood in front of him, extending the glass with a small smile on her face.

"Thanks." He moved for the glass, took a sip and placed it on the coffee table. Sakura ungracefully plopped back down on the couch. Sasuke smirked, he noted that this time she was sitting closer to him.

"Mhmm, you smell nice Sasuke-kun.." She looked at him through lidded lashes, scooting a bit closer. "Have I ever told you, you're pretty.."

"No Sakura.. you're the pretty one.." He whispered into her ear and—_he fucking meant it_. She was the picture of perfection.

Stretching his arm out, he brought her closer to his body, her head cradled in the crook of his neck. Sakura breathed deeply and let out a sigh, inhaling the masculine scent the Uchiha gave off.

Sasuke gently ran his hands up and down her back.

No one moved for a really long time.

* * *

**Authors Note:**

**Hey dolls!**

I originally penned this out to be a one shot but decided against it.

How's everyone liking the manga? I swear I have fallen in love ten times even more with Sakura's character! You go Kishi!

If you like the story, leave a review and tell me so :)

Stay fab

Kandy

**Read and Review**


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